Wow that is quite a feat!

I'm very glad they moved the Grande Dame. Nice to know that it is being given a new lease on life!

I was surprised that according to a news story it only cost $400,000. Last house that I know of in this area that was moved a block and a half was almost $300,000 and it was only a story and a half.

Stacey_mb

It must be a very sturdy house to survive the move. It's a win when a perfectly good structure can still be used rather than being demolished.

So cool. So great to save historic buildings instead of tearing them down.

That was great to watch; thanks for posting it. I love that so many people showed up to watch, too. An event any time, for sure, but a BIG one during our altered world right now.

Franklin and Turk is not downtown - it more like half-way between Laguna Heights and the Tenderloin. I used to live close to there in Hayes Valley. My roommate called that neighborhood Uptown, which is another name for the Tenderloin.

I'm glad they were able to save that house. It looks like they are moving it to the Civic Center neighborhood, which is closer to where I lived in Hayes Valley.

I agree, not downtown. It's west of Van Ness.

It's an interesting building. From streetview (Google is obscured by a bus, better on Bing) one of the long sides has windows facing an empty lot (part of the parcel?) and the other side facing a gas station has none. Likely there was another building abutting it on that side that was taken down to build the gas station. On both sites, the building is fenced off and appears abandoned.

There used to be a TV show about moving houses, often very long distances into tricky places (one was a island and they had to go by ferry). It was quite fascinating.

This Old House magazine has a feature, usually on the last page, called "Save This Old House" - the houses sometimes will need to be moved, and might be free or minimal price contingent upon that and restoration.

WE once had a chance to move an old nunnery. The price of this gorgeous 1800 home was cheap but we had nowhere to take it. It would have looked stupid on a lot with modern ranch homes around it which was the closest place but the cost to take it further was unreachable so it was torn down.

My home was a moved home. It was moved before we owned it and was payed for by the airport authority. They bought 10,000 acres in my township when they built the current airport to replace the old one. If a house was cheaper to move then they moved it. Homes that were unmovable or would cost more to move than what the home was worth they just tore it down and relocated the owners.

If the move was arranged and paid for (not payed) as part of a large effort for an airport project, I'd have been concerned about the quality of the work, including the new placement, due perhaps to lax oversight. Because of there not being one owner/customer to whom the contractors were accountable. If it worked out fine for you, that's good. And a bit lucky too perhaps.

The house was built in 1974 and moved in 1975. No problems. I think by now the problems would of showed up.

Problems would not necessarily have shown up or have been noticed. But if all seems well, that's a good sign.

Elmer, Elmer, Elmer...be nice.

seagrass

Lol it's been 45 years and been home inspected 3 times.

It seems that relocating houses was not so unusual way back when. There are several homes in my town's historic central district that were either re-oriented on their original lot, or moved to a different lot entirely. I wonder if the houses were completely deconstructed then reconstructed, or divided up and moved in sections. Can you imagine doing it with only horse or oxen power?

My dad owns a building that used to be an old post office built around the 1880's. My grandfather had it moved to it's current location around 1945. Where there is a will there is a way. It needs to be torn down now because the termites got it. It was a very sturdy built building.

I watched two houses being moved-one moved to a place a few miles away and the other moved across a compound into the space of the first house. It was historic and in a bad spot. They were smallish houses but the work was fascinating to watch. The cribbing and jacking part was amazing. I lived in a historic house between the two. I know two people who had houses moved. Same company. It is an art. They certainly took pride in their work. They told me the spiders move when you start work.

I have seen very LARGE homes moved in our town. Amway, VanAndles home to be exact, Amazing feat. My Grandparents home was also moved, they bought it for $1.00 and had to move off the land.

While the houses may not be moved sometimes when a foundation can not be repaired in this area houses may be lifted from their foundations. Depending on if just the walls or the walls and floor is being replaced the house may remain in place but suspended or moved so full access can be achieved. Where I have seen this done is in historic districts.

In my home town, about 35 miles from where I live now, a large Victorian house was moved on a barge from one side of town to another around 25 years ago. It would have been very costly and nearly impossible to move power lines, traffic signals, and negotiate the streets to move it. Since it was fairly close to the water on both ends, it was loaded on a barge and a tug moved it. It went easily under the bridge across the Tennessee River and was heavily photographed and documented. Now it looks as if it always belonged in its present location.